Man dies after penis-enhancement surgery goes wrong

A Swedish man died after suffering complications during a penis-enhancement surgery, according to a recently published case report.

The 30-year-old relatively healthy patient wanted a penile elongation and girth enhancement surgery, which includes transferring fat from one area of the body and replacing it in the penis. Surgeons finished the elongation part of the procedure and were in the process of injecting the patient with transferred fat, when the man started experiencing complications, according to a report in the Journal of Forensic Sciences.

The man's heart began to race, and his blood pressure dropped abnormally low, according to the report. The patient, who did not have a prior heart condition, went into cardiac arrest and died a little over an hour later, the report stated.

An autopsy later concluded that the patient died from a pulmonary fat embolism, when fat travelled the bloodstream to his lungs and ruptured blood vessels.

Doctors believe this is the first case where a "seemingly simple and safe procedure of penis enlargement by autologous fat transfer caused sudden death in a healthy young man", the report noted.

Mayo Clinic urologist Tobia Kohler said the procedure could also result in other serious problems.

"It's a completely useless procedure that never works and disfigures men, and could kill you," Kohler, who was not part of the study, said. "This is the worst case, but there are lots of other horrible consequences, from disfigurement to permanent erectile dysfunction to even worse."

The report concludes that it may be risky to do the penis elongation and girth enhancement surgeries at the same time, since tissue that has already been subjected to trauma in the first procedure is then subjected to fat injection.